A/N If you missed the description, this is a sequel to The Unwrapped Consequence and it starts about three weeks after the end of that story. So, you might want to go back and read that one first. As usual, TBBT78 has been reading these, giving very helpful suggestions, my more recent stories would not have been as good, without her. Thanks, Louise.

I also should remind you that the last two episodes of the show were quite a bit out of sync with how time usually ran in the show. Most of season 12 moved along with one episode about one week after the previous one. This means that episode 22 happened in April/May and there was a time jump to episode 23 in October(the announcement date of Nobel winners). Episode 24 was in December(when the presentations happen). I only mention that so when Leonard talks about the previous spring and summer, it was before the start of "Unwrapped" and before the announcement of Amy and Sheldon winning the Nobel. Hence, this starts the July after

And, finally, a reminder to review. With the show being over for coming up on three years now, Big Bang fanfic writers are getting fewer and fewer hits, another reason Big Bang stories are getting rarer. Even a few quick words mean a lot to the authors. So, even if you don't leave one for me, because you think this is begging, leave reviews for any other authors, they deserve it.

Chapter 1 Prologue 2158

19 July 2:00 PM

Leonard Hofstadter, PhD. had just put Jesika in her bassinet. Penny was taking a nap and he had just finished feeding and changing both of the twins. He had the bassinets on the dining room table and he was letting the girls grab his fingers, while he made faces at them.

They were starting to sleep more, up to four hours sometimes, and at least two. This relieved some of the pressure, as either Leonard or Penny could feed them, while the other slept. Of course, Penny healing from her surgery and now being able to pick the girls up on her own was the biggest help.

Unfortunately, the twins had now sometimes started in on sleeping on different schedules. For the first few weeks, they would eat, get changed and go back to sleep for about two hours. It made planning for their feedings easier.

Now, however, one would wake up early, crying for food, while the other slept and thought crying after feeding was a good idea. It wasn't even the same one who would cry early or take longer to go back to sleep. It seemed like Annika and Jesika would both take turns not going back to sleep after eating or waking up early and crying. This meant their parents were sometimes feeding every hour or two and were now much more tired than they had been.

At least they had Louise as their nanny. During the day, she was always on top of things, getting the twins so either Penny or Leonard could feed them, changing them after they ate, or making sure changing supplies were stocked both upstairs and downstairs. And, of course, she was a whiz at getting them settled down after they ate.

Penny would mostly feed them during the day, sometimes pumping and storing milk for Leonard to use during the night, when it was his turn to feed them. But, Louise was keeping everything straight for Leonard and Penny and would even feed them, using some of Penny's stored milk, during the day, if both Penny and Leonard were napping. Louise was now their biggest help and they were glad they had hired her and given her more hours.

As Leonard looked down on his two daughters, he thought, It has been a crazy year. Last spring, I got a co-lead on the photon entanglement team and Amy and Sheldon got put in for the Nobel Prize. Last July, Penny and I went to visit her parents. It was a nice drive there and back with a few nights in Las Vegas. He chuckled, It's going to be a while before we get back there.

Then we found out that Sheldon and Amy won the Nobel. But, while that didn't really change anything for us, it did change a lot for Amy and Sheldon. And, Sheldon, as usual, couldn't handle the change. Everyone wanted to talk to him and then Amy made all those changes to herself. She was happy and looked great, but he just flipped out. At least Penny got him calmed down and she was able to get him to deal with it. I was even able to get him to somewhat enjoy traveling to other universities.

It changed our life too, it's just we didn't know it at the time and then didn't tell anyone right away we did find out. Because that's the night your mother became pregnant with you two. It had to be that night. As Penny said, before that night we were sick, then she had her period. Afterward, we didn't see each other for two weeks, first, she went to a convention, then I went to one. There was only that one night, any other time was either too soon or too late.

It was soon after that I found out Mike was leaving and Gablehauser told me I would become the sole lead for the Photon Entanglement Team. It has gone very well, as our experiments have worked and I came up with a new material for the beam splitter that increased the number of entanglements. Now, Keith's team is doing calculations to find out why the new material works and doing the calculations to see if other materials can create even more.

Tom's team is making plans for new experiments and modifying the current experiment so we can try any new materials, based on Keith's calculations. In some ways, I can't wait to get back to work, but I will miss you two.

Your mother led another successful launch for a new drug. Then she got an offer from two other companies, but she also got an offer for a promotion with Zangen. She was worried that they wouldn't give it to her when they found out she was pregnant, as she hadn't yet told them. She did tell them, but it didn't matter as her boss, Dan, was so understanding. He kept her in her new position, giving her time off when she needed it, and teaching her what needed to know for her new job. Now, she's just waiting to go back, after her four months of maternity leave.

Then, Amy, Sheldon, and I got tenure. Sheldon and I got it for the physics department and Amy for the biology department, after all, she went back to working on her project for neuroscience. Giving it to Amy and Sheldon made sense, two Nobel winners, you want to keep them around and happy for fundraising. But, it made me feel good that they gave me tenure because they wanted to keep me around. Then Raj got tenure and Howard pushed forward, starting work on his doctorate.

He smiled inwardly, I feel pretty good about those two. I put a bug Gablehauser's ear about how Raj could help work with students, based on his previous work on Trans-Neptunian Objects and it would also give him time to do his lectures at the planetarium. I was also the one that gave Howard the idea that his work on the damaged grip would be a good choice for a doctorate.

And your mother wasn't the only one who got promoted at Zangen. Bernadette scored a big promotion to VP, so everyone has had a great year, job-wise. As for the rest, us buying the house is a big one. As a bonus for Sheldon, our buying a house let him and Amy move back into 4A, so he has his spot back.

But, the biggest thing, for your mother and I, was her pregnancy and you two. He smiled down at them, But, it was scary. Oh, not your birth, that went well, it was after you were born that it became scary. Your mommy was bleeding and her blood pressure dropped to where she passed out. Leonard paused then said out loud, "Your mother getting rushed into surgery was what scared me the most, this past year. I was afraid I was going to lose her."

Leonard hadn't noticed, he had his back to the stairs, but Penny was coming down the stairs after waking up from her nap. She had heard him and a sad smile crossed her face. They had talked about this and she was well aware of how scared Leonard had been of losing her and of how guilty he felt. She knew, that if she had died, he would have done all he could for the girls on his own. But, he would have been devastated and would have felt bad about them not growing up without a mother.

The issue of the guilt he felt about her was the biggest issue. He wasn't there when her blood pressure crashed and he blamed himself for that. But, what really got him was she had told him she didn't want to have children and it was the delivery that could have killed her. And so he felt it was his fault.

She had told him that two years before she didn't want kids, but after the debacle with Zack and Marissa, she struggle with why she was so upset about Leonard donating sperm. She had talked to and told her dad she was now worried about disappointing him and Leonard. And, in her own mind, between that and her reaction to Zack and Marissa's request, I'm now simply unsure about not wanting kids.

Both her dad and Leonard assured her that they wouldn't be disappointed in her if she didn't want kids. After finding out she was pregnant, she had told Leonard and asked him to discuss the pros and cons of having kids. She then took a day or so to decide to have the one she was now carrying. Although, when they found out she was having twins, she became more and more excited about having them.

As far as Leonard's guilt, she had been continually telling him, since it happened, that it wasn't his fault, she had made the decision to have the twins and he should forget about it, but his guilt continued. She did pick up on his last comment and made another effort, "But, you didn't lose me, I'm here, so, like I keep telling you, you don't have to worry or feel guilty about it."

Leonard spun around and seeing Penny walking toward him, smiled.

"What made you say that?" asked Penny.

"I not really sure," said Leonard. "I was thinking, in my mind, about the past year. The gangs promotions, tenure, new jobs, our buying a house and, most importantly, these two being born," Leonard pointed down at the twins.

"That's sweet," said Penny. "Did they answer you?"

"Sort of, they both smiled at me," said Leonard with a grin.

"I want to tell you again, Leonard," said Penny. "It is not your fault. Everything is now fine, I can still even have more kids, it was just something that happened. So, quit overthinking it, okay?"

Leonard looked down and nodded, "Do you want me to make you some tea?"

"I'd love some," said Penny. She moved the babies out to the living room, as Leonard walked out to the kitchen. She was looking over at the girls and smiling, but she was thinking. Would she be able to leave them? I know Bernadette didn't want to go back, at first. But, after we stopped by her office when we were going out for lunch, She got back into the flow of her job and had no problem going back.

But, I'm not sure I'm Bernadette. I know I said I didn't want to have kids, but I love being home with these two, watching them, loving them. I'm not sure I'm interested in going back to work. Leonard can support us by himself, even with the house payment. Oh, it will be tighter, but, after all, we won't have to pay for child care at the university, which will free up a lot of money. I would be here, with help from Louise.

But, will I be happy being at home all the time? I don't know. I do know I'll have to talk to Leonard about this. I still have three months before I go back, but Leonard goes back in one month. Maybe, after he goes back to work, it will drive me crazy being here by myself, well, with Louise. But, if I'm not going back, I feel I'd have to tell Dan sometime toward the end of August. I have to be fair to him and Zangen, after all, they stuck with me when I told them I was pregnant. I'll see how things work out when Leonard goes back to work, think about it some more, talk to Leonard, and then make a decision.

Just then, Leonard walked up with a tray. There were two cups on it, the tea kettle and a selection of teas. There was also a cup containing non-dairy creamer for Leonard, milk for her, and sugar for both of them. She smiled at him as he set down the tray on the coffee table in front of them.

They chose their tea, pour in the hot water and steeped their tea for a few minutes before putting in the creamer or milk and sugar. Penny then sat back and turned on Unsolved Mysteries. Leonard rolled his eyes, but she ignored him. He thought she'd be finished with that, once her pregnancy was over, but she was still watching that show.

A/N As you may have noticed, this is labeled as Chapter 1:Prologue. My first few stories had titles for each chapter, but I got away from that. I thought I'd go ahead and go with chapter titles for this one. And, you may also have noticed that this is basically a short recap of The Unwrapped Consequence, with a few extra things thrown in. I thought it best to go ahead and use the prologue as a refresher for those who may not have read, or wanted to read, TUC and even those that did read it, but maybe forgot a thing or two. Then added the extras so you weren't just reading a recap.